January 30, 2025 • 35 mins
What if your personal accountant could offer more than just tax advice, becoming a vital ally in navigating life's financial twists and turns? In this episode, I sit down with Layla Kashani from CBIS Data Tax to uncover the hidden benefits of having a dedicated financial guide. Layla shares why a personal touch can make all the difference, especially when faced with major life events or preparing for retirement. With many accounting firms closing their books to new clients, finding a trusted partner who knows your financial history is more important than ever.
We also explore the unique financial landscape following the recent wildfires in LA County. The IRS and California have declared the area a disaster zone, unlocking significant tax relief measures for residents. From managing insurance claims and FEMA aid to navigating the complexities of crowdfunding platforms like GoFundMe, Layla and I discuss the practical steps you can take to manage the financial aftermath of such devastating events. Plus, discover how CBIS Data Tax is giving back by offering free tax filing services to those affected by the fires.
Finally, we turn our attention to the dual nature of human responses to disasters: the scams and the generosity. While looting and fraudulent FEMA claims can be disheartening, the outpouring of support from organizations like the Red Cross showcases the community's resilience. We emphasize the importance of vigilance in protecting yourself from scams, as well as tracking charitable contributions for potential tax benefits. This episode is a call to unite as a community, strengthening bonds and seizing opportunities for disaster recovery and future resilience.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
From deep in the Burbank Media District.
It's time for another editionof my Burbank Talks, presented
by the staff of my Burbank.
Now let's see what's on today'sagenda as we join our program.
Hello Burbank, greg Schuberthere with you once again, and
it's 2025 and we're back in thepodcast studio.
(00:20):
So kind of an interestingsubject today.
Probably not a really happysubject, but a very important
subject today because, with therecent wildfires we've had and
the problems, there are so manyside things that go on besides
just the rebuilding and allthose things.
One aspect is financial, whichmeans accountants and things
(00:45):
like that, and taxes, andwhether you live in the burn
area or not, in LA County wehave a lot of things now going
on.
So we brought our friends atCBIS Data Tax in who, once again
, in all disclosure, they arealso the MyBurbank accountants,
(01:08):
and you know why?
Because they're the best.
We want to bring in the owner,layla Cascini, and she's going
to talk about some things, aboutwhat's going on.
So, layla, it's good to see youonce again.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Yeah, thanks so much for having us back on the show
and we feel pretty proud.
We're your first podcast of2025.
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
Yeah, we got a little busy and we've been changing
some formats around, so I thinkit's going to work out pretty
well.
So let's go back once again andlet's just talk about CBIS,
data Tax.
Give us a little bit of thehistory.
You've been in Burbank for along time.
You just celebrated 20 years, Ithink 25.
25 years, yes, and so give us alittle background on everything
.
25 years, and so give us alittle background on everything.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Yeah, so CBIS Data Tax was actually my tax
accountant.
It was my father's taxaccountant back in the day we're
talking well for him probablystarting in the 80s to the 90s.
It's existed in Los Angelessince 1981, moved to the Burbank
location where we are right nowon Hollywood Way in 1998.
Or Hollywood Way in Alameda,that's correct, that's right 201
(02:06):
North Hollywood Way.
So what happened was this lastsummer we realized we've been in
the same spot for at least 25years, so we decided to mark the
occasion.
So 25 years of continuousoperation.
I am a new owner, but I used tobe a client, so I feel like I
already knew them.
I went and got my master's infinance and accounting and so it
just worked out to be able totake it over and continue the
(02:28):
legacy.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
So that's great, and you know the reason we came to
you.
We've heard great things andwe're very happy with what
everything going on for us.
Thank you very much.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Yes, no problem.
We're happy to have you, noproblem.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
We're happy to have you.
Well, let's kind of get intosome of the general stuff here.
So why having an accountant?
Why is that different thanhaving an online service?
Your TurboTax and all thosethings you see and I'm sure on
Super Bowl Sunday we're going tosee a thousand ads for all the
electronic things and we'll doyour taxes for free and all this
(03:04):
stuff Explain the difference topeople, why they actually
really need a physicalaccounting person and a place
and somebody who can actuallydeal with you personally.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Yeah, well, that's an excellent question and, yes,
you could try to do it yourself.
Right, and the IRS even offerssome services for free for
certain individuals that can'tafford, for example, someone.
The difference is that if yousit down and you're not a
finance person, you're not a taxbookkeeping, you don't
understand all these nuances.
And each year, by the way thetax laws change, you're going to
(03:35):
be dealing with a lot of prettycomplicated stuff that a
simplified I don't want to say.
Our competitors, like TurboTaxand so forth.
They might be qualified inthere, but they're not going to
be asking the same questionsyear after year because they're
not following you.
You're just walking into apop-up tax office and saying
here are my papers, here are myreceipts, here's my 1099s, w-2s,
(03:56):
and they're going to do yourtaxes for you, but they're not
going to know things like nextyear you want to buy a house, or
last year you had a kid thatwas in school, that's not in
school this year, and maybe youforgot to take a deduction last
year.
You're not going to know thoselegacy things.
And that's why I think find anaccountant that you love, that
you can talk to, and that'ssomebody that's going to give
(04:16):
you independent advice year overyear, help you strategize and
even prepare you in retirementyears as well, because they'll
know where you started from.
So that's my push for you don'thave to come to us.
We'd love to have you, and weare open for taking new clients.
By the way, many firms are not,and that's mainly because
they're on their way to retire.
Retiring accountants are nottaking on new work.
(04:38):
They're trying to get rid ofclients, and so it's rare to
find an established firm, anoffice that has a physical
location, that is taking newbusiness.
So just keep that in mind aswell when you go around looking
for an accountant.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Oh, interesting.
Well, I know Frank does ourwork for us and I know Frank's
going to be there.
He's going to be there 12months of the year.
You go to a you know one ofthese places.
You go to a physical locationand they probably have hired two
thirds of their staff, and justfor tax season.
And now you know it's twomonths later.
(05:14):
You know I've got to.
What do you mean?
It doesn't work here anymore.
You don't know who I am, youdon't know what's going on.
So there's a lot of advantageto having a accounting firm and
and cost-wise it's prettysimilar, isn't?
Speaker 2 (05:27):
it.
I would say that we're talkingokay, I'll give some quotes for
us we are very competitive inour pricing.
But let's say it's $300, on thehigh, you know, for an
individual coming in with basictaxes, and then we're talking
$800 for an uncomplicatedbusiness.
This is not a lot of money Now,of course it sounds like a lot,
but if you're getting a refundand it's coming out of that, you
(05:47):
might say if I do it myself orif I go to them, maybe they
charge 250 or 200.
It's possible.
Then what happens is you'll getthat IRS letter that questions
something, you don't even knowwhat, and three months later or
six months later, you don't haveanyone to go back to and say
(06:10):
what did you do on my tax form,that I got this letter so I can
respond to them, and so nowyou're they're probably going to
charge you again, and so westand behind our work so that if
we do something and you get aletter later on in the year,
we're there to help you answerit.
That's included in our services.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
Well, not only that, but you can probably find more
things that give you moredeductions and get you more
money back in the long run too,because this is your one and
only business.
You're not just notmoonlighting.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Yes, I do find that the most people say the reason
they don't have an accountantand they just use these services
.
Usually they say I just haveone job.
I just you know I'm one.
I'm an Uber driver, that's allI do.
And all I have to do is askthem a couple of questions Like
do you have a cell phone?
Do they deduct that?
Do you take internet?
Do you ever work from home?
Have they ever considered that?
(06:51):
And they look at me like well,I didn't even know I could do
that.
And I said that's the point.
Like, whereas a professionalaccountant that's that's savvy
on the laws every year uh, canhelp you with those type of
things, even if you just have aone job, one income type
situation.
So there's plenty we can offerand help you with.
(07:11):
It says, one day you're going todo a side business and maybe
your YouTube channel suddenlybecomes a big gain and now we
wish that's right, and so we'rethere to help you plan for that,
so that you can profit fromthat new venture without paying
all the taxes.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
Well, as we kicked off the show, we said it's 2025.
And guess what?
It's a new year, in the taxyear too.
So what are some new rules andregulations for 2025 that maybe
people don't know about or thatyou're looking to, you know key
in on or that type of thing thatyou know it can really help
people, and without giving toomany trade secrets, because we
(07:46):
still want to come to you andstuff but what are some of the
rules and differences now in2025 compared to last year?
Speaker 2 (07:53):
Well in 2025, generally for all taxpayers.
They've changed some of thededuction amounts and, of course
, the income levels and tax foreach income level has changed.
It changes every year, so it'salways good to know about that.
They've changed some rules onthe retirement distributions,
too that we need to keep in mind.
It's kicked in probably in thelast month of December, so
(08:13):
hopefully you guys knew about it, took advantage of it, but
those are also shifting, sothere's some areas that are
going to change.
Some will benefit you and somedeductions that you used to have
will disappear, so it's good toknow.
Again.
Find an accountant that canoffset.
Look at last year's and say,look, I had this gain last year
but the rules changed, so Idon't get that this year.
But maybe there's somethingelse you do qualify for.
(08:42):
Most importantly for LA Countyis this fire that's happening.
I know you said in thebeginning of the show we would
have a not so happy topic.
The disaster that's happened inthe Palisades and Eaton and
other areas of LA County hascreated a window of opportunity
on the financial losses.
I know that sounds a verystrange way to say.
There is one upside to thisdisaster and I can speak
(09:02):
personally I have a familymember who lost their home, so
it's hitting very close.
However, we know that when theIRS and California said we are
going to declare LA County adisaster area, that triggers
some very interesting financialopportunity for everyone in LA
(09:23):
County, even if you didn'tsuffer a loss.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
So people here in Burbank can have now.
So there's some opportunitiesfor them tax-wise, even though
there's no fire that happened inBurbank.
But people in Burbank canbenefit from some of the
declarations and stuff,especially in LA County.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Exactly.
I'll say first off the bat CBISData Tax is offering free tax
filings for fire victims.
So if you lost your home orlost a business, you can come in
and talk to us.
We'll do your taxes for free.
That is an offer we're offeringjust to support the community
at large.
So if you know anyone out therethat was impacted maybe not
yourself, but someone elseplease send them to us If
(10:00):
they're interested.
We will do that for them.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
Let me ask you this we're kind of running the topic
here, we're kind of bouncingaround a little bit.
So you've lost your house,you've lost your business and,
of course, your business, allyour records, all your tax
records, all your receipts, allyour computer, everything was.
How do you go about, you know,recreating and helping people
(10:24):
through that, because you knowthey're probably just hitting
their head against the wallright now.
They don't know where to turnor what to do.
So how do you?
How do you start and how do youstart recreating all that?
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Well and that also OK for somebody who actually did
lose their receipts in business.
First of all, the IRS will getyou your previous tax
transcripts so you can getprevious records that were
already filed with the IRS.
And you can go on the irsgovwebsite and find that there's a
phone number when you.
It's actually a phone numbercalled the IRS Disaster Hotline
(10:55):
and I can give it out here it's1-866-562-5227.
So the IRS Disaster Hotline cananswer a lot of those questions
.
When you say I lost this, Ilost that.
You're a business, you got tohand out W-2s to your employees,
or 1099s, all of that.
They can help assist you.
And, by the way, since we're onit, everyone in LA County can
(11:17):
now postpone all their filingsfor individual and business
taxes until October 15th.
That's like just you don't haveto have lost your home or
business to benefit from that.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
Let's say it was a pandemic that one year we got to
a six month extension.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Yes, the pandemic did it.
There was a flood, there was aflood zone also in LA County and
San Diego that they alsooffered an extension.
But it's not just the filing.
This is what's so interesting.
This is why I said there's afinancial gain here, or a
potential financial offset,we'll call it.
(11:52):
If you owe taxes, you also don'thave to pay that until October
15th.
So you could even go to youraccountant and file or do your.
However, you file and wait topay until October 15th.
If you're in LA County, youprofit from that or you benefit
from that.
I mean, I should say, if you,even if you haven't lost
anything in the fires.
What that could mean is, if youowe money, if every year you're
writing a check on April 15th,you now don't have to write that
(12:12):
check till October 15th andthere will not be any penalties
or interest charged.
I mean that's a huge advantageif you could do something else
with that money in the meantimeand just save up again until
October.
If you pay estimated taxesevery quarter, those are also
delayed until October 15th.
So if you owed something inDecember and you still haven't
(12:33):
paid it, you get that graceperiod no penalty, no interest
all the way to October 15th.
There's a number of other thingsthat have been delayed, but it
is quite interesting for peoplethat maybe they didn't quite
have the money saved up or theyhave something else they wanted
to spend that money on.
Well, now you can't, so you canwait.
One more interesting thing islet's say you don't live in LA
(12:55):
County, you're outside thecounty, but your tax firm, like
CVIS Data Tax, is within thatzone.
You can also qualify for thatdelayed filing and the delayed
payments.
That is extremely interesting.
It means if you live in Vermontbut you use us for your tax
services, you can call the IRSand say my tax preparer is in
(13:16):
the impacted zone and you willalso qualify for that.
So it's a very interestingthing that it's also nationwide
potential, but you got to findyour tax firm inside the LA
County area.
So that's the pitch for CBISdata tax.
We can help you with that.
We can advise you how to getthat benefit.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
Hear that, vermont, we found your tax accounts right
here.
Now you're going to be dealingwith a lot of insurance money, a
lot of FEMA money andeverything else going on.
I was told.
I've been watching reports likeeverybody else, and they were
saying that if you start aGoFundMe page and FEMA finds out
(13:56):
about it, they will deduct theamount you get on GoFundMe from
the FEMA payment they give youand things like that.
So accounting-wise, is theGoFundMe page a good idea?
I mean, is that more of ataxable thing or is FEMA not
taxable?
Or am I asking questions thatare probably a little more
(14:18):
complicated right now?
Speaker 2 (14:19):
No, they're all very good questions.
I almost find it unconscionablethat if somebody has money,
however they get it, suddenlythe government, federal funds,
are not paying out, and so forth.
But this is another.
This is my opinion on thatstance.
But basically it's true.
What they're saying is if youhad an insurance policy that,
say, covers your property for$50,000 and you collected that
(14:39):
$50,000, then FEMA is not goingto pay you.
You know anything more, unlessyou come and say, but I lost a
hundred thousand dollars worthof stuff, then they might
consider that fifty thousand.
But if they find out you had aGoFundMe that got you that extra
fifty thousand another, well,we're done here.
You've been made whole, andit's almost like penalizing
people's generosity to helppeople in these situations.
(15:01):
So the government just sayswe're not going to pay it.
But I have an opinion on that.
But that is the.
That is the truth.
The insurance and FEMA payoutswill sort of cancel each other
out.
So you can't double dip is whatthey're trying to say.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Well, that's it.
Yeah, I mean, I understand theywant to make you whole again,
but you know your life's beenturned upside down.
It's not like you're trying tomake a.
You know, let's have a fire andhave a profit off of that.
You know, I don't think peopleare thinking trying to make a
profit.
I think they're just trying toget their lives back on track.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
You know, and face, it's a lot of things that you
know kind of make sense, likethat well, on that topic I I can
offer something on the tax sidethat might help some of these
fire loss victims.
And it's good advice forsomebody who hasn't lost
anything, but to prepare just incase.
So let's say you hadgrandmother's ring okay, and
(16:00):
it's worth 50 grand.
Let's say it's.
Or you know even more Well, youdidn't get.
When you inherited that ring youprobably didn't get it
appraised, you just got it fromgrandma on her deathbed.
I mean, it's now part of yourcollection and you lost it in
the fire.
Well, the insurance companymost likely is not going to pay
you out on that ring.
They might do a blanket policy.
Well, everything in the houseis worth $100,000.
(16:20):
That's all you get.
But when you come back and say,but I had this one ring and it
was worth that to me, they'regoing to say too bad, because
you had a blanket policy.
You didn't tell me you had thisadditional item.
So I can say for you right nowthe insurance will not pay you
that, however, you come into ouroffices we can explain a way
for you to get the tax loss ofthat inherited item through your
(16:43):
taxes.
Now you'll say to me but Idon't earn $50,000 a year to
take a tax loss of $50,000.
You've got 20 years to takethat loss.
You can keep putting it.
You can take $5,000 every yearfor 10 years, if you like, until
we get it.
We can find a way for you totake the loss of that ring.
You'll get the money.
It just might take some time.
So it's a very interestingruling the way they treat
(17:05):
inherited items that are lost ina disaster.
So anybody out there thatthinks my insurance isn't going
to pay for all that great stuffI had all my life took me 50
years to create this life.
Gone in a day, talk to youraccountant or come in and talk
to us, because we might be ableto find a way for you to recover
it at least the financial valueof it over the next few years.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
You recommend that people videotape, maybe inside
their house, things like that.
Yeah, not videotape.
Welcome to the 80s.
A cell phone now is a cameraand they can do video on every
cell phone.
So should they go around roomto room and just video their
house, and maybe they haveexpensive objects to go ahead,
(17:51):
and is that good enough fordocumentation?
Just a video compared to oh,here's a receipt, here's this,
here's that.
I mean, is that a good systemto have?
Speaker 2 (18:02):
Yeah, well, yes, because, uh, it's, it's
obviously a receipt is golden,because if you bought something,
you have a receipt for it, ifit survived the fire or if you
have a credit card statementsomewhere, that's going to be
the value.
But these items that you don'tlike paintings or a vase, or you
know your furnishings maybe youjust had some beautiful, like
jewelry as I said, those thingsare not going to have receipts
(18:23):
necessarily if they were giftsor given to you or inherited or
passed down over generations.
I'm sure most of Altadena is agenerational type community.
Those people, if they're 70years old and they lost
everything, they're not going tohave receipts.
Right, they were hoping to handthat down to their
grandchildren and so videotapingor if you have any photographs
of it, that's obviously veryhelpful.
(18:44):
If you, if you don't have themfrom the fire, take some now.
If you've, if you still haveyour hub, take photos.
Put them somewhere wherethey're safe.
Obviously, if it's on a phoneor a hard drive and that burns,
that's or it gets destroyed.
So put them somewhere safe anddon't put them in a safety
deposit box, because we havelearned that the safety deposit
(19:05):
boxes in the banks burned up.
They're only capable yeah, theBank of America.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
I saw Bank of America open flames, yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
Yeah, the only their.
Their vaults are meant towithstand fire at 450 degrees
Fahrenheit, and these fires wereat 1780 plus Fahrenheit.
So anything inside those boxesit turned to ash if it was paper
and melted into a pool ofpuddle of metal if it was silver
or gold.
So even when they can get tothose boxes, you're not going to
(19:37):
have any.
You know it's just gonna be amess.
And you're not insured, by theway, with a safety deposit box.
So that's another thing to know.
You have to carry your owninsurance.
The bank doesn't even know whatyou put in there.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
That's the advantage of the safety deposit box.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
No one knows what's in those boxes, so I wouldn't
put them in there because weknow they're not fire safe.
So put them in differentlocations, maybe at different
friends, families, houses, putit on a hard drive somewhere, or
you can put them in the cloud.
You know, if you trust thecloud, put them up there.
Those photographs, by the way,they're not necessarily a
guarantee of appraisal value andthat's why we come in again,
(20:10):
because I can.
In our firm at CBIS Data Techswe can find jewelry appraisers
that are certified in the areain LA that can look at a
photograph and say you know thatring, if it was this carat and
this would have this value, andthey will document that.
They'll say we didn't feel it,but we believe it would have
(20:32):
been worth this much and that'sgood enough for the IRS.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
Okay, what if somebody comes to you and you
know, and let's face it, theseare very distraught people.
Right now, even weeks later,there's probably people just are
sitting at a corner somewheresaying I just don't know what to
do.
If somebody comes into you andthey really haven't received
help, they haven't filled out,are you able to steer them in
(20:58):
the right directions?
Okay, here's where you need togo with FEMA, here's where you
need to go with FEMA, here'swhere you need to go with an
insurance.
Do you help steer people to getthem in the right direction?
Because right now they'reprobably just lost and there's
no experiences whatsoever forthem.
So what can you do if somebodyis just really starting off?
Can you help guide them throughthe process, besides being, of
(21:20):
course, their accountant?
Speaker 2 (21:21):
Yes, well, obviously we are of expertise on the tax
side, but because we also have acommunity that are impacted we
and myself directly, even thefamily we can help you because
we have lawyer contacts that canhelp guide you on the legal
side.
They can advise you on how toapproach your insurance company,
(21:41):
the FEMA and these disasterrelief.
Obviously we have connectionsinto the IRS disaster hotlines
and so forth that we haveenrolled agents that can go and
get in there.
We can definitely advise you.
We're not a one-shot all forthis disaster, sadly, but it's a
great start because first wecan at least talk through your
(22:03):
financial options.
How do we make you whole again?
You're retired, you're notworking anymore, for example?
How do we at least get that'sthe important thing you know is
to get whole again.
Right, we can even put some ofthese financial losses into your
estate, so that at least yournext generation has some benefit
, even if you're not workinganymore now.
So there's all these things wecan talk through that might give
(22:26):
a small peace of mind on top ofthis horrific tragedy that's
happened.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
What about scams out there?
And I think there's I can'tthere's people who already had
their.
You know, they went to get aFEMA help and they said oh no,
somebody's already applied foryour house and you got to prove
who you are.
And they said well, why didthey have to prove who they were
first?
You know, I mean.
So I mean people take advantageof everything they take.
(22:52):
It's sad when you see how cruelpeople can be compared to how
generous people can be.
Also.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
Yeah, the scams and the theft has already begun.
I mean, I'll even speak in mypersonal family.
They've gone out to the ashes.
They found a safe but it lookedthat it had already been busted
open.
So they're not sure if anythingwas ever in it.
It could have.
Maybe didn't survive the fire,they're not sure, but it did
look like it had been opened andnothing was inside.
(23:20):
So it's already started.
We know about these looters,we've heard about it.
The police are trying.
Now you get escorted to yourproperties.
But the scams online are big.
The offers to buy properties.
In my family they've also beenoffered to buy their land, and
at very, very low value.
So that's happening.
It has been deemed illegal inCalifornia to make offers below
(23:46):
market value.
At this moment, like this isone of these disaster moments
where they enact these policies.
But who's to stop someone whoreally desperately needs money
to just accept an offer likethat?
So there is some risk out there.
People are weak and you reallyhave to pay attention.
Risk out there.
People are weak and you reallyhave to pay attention.
Definitely, research any offeryou get, talk to other people,
(24:06):
see, did they get the same offer?
Like, did you get that email,did you get that phone call?
And just don't keep it toyourself.
And even if you fell victim tosomething like you did actually
hand money over to someone andthen nothing happened please
don't hide that, don't beashamed of it, because if you
don't voice it, then we can'tfind out and stop it and help
(24:27):
the community and theenforcement agencies to track
that down.
So and there is some protection.
By the way, you can even bringthat back to your taxes as a
loss.
So if you did get scammed,there is a way to put that on
your taxes.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
You didn't know that.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
Okay, so that's the worst side of people.
Let's talk about the good sideof people.
The Red Cross, all theseorganizations have made millions
and millions of dollars.
You know that's coming frompeople who are donating money,
donating items, donating allthese things.
So when they're donating,should they be keeping track of
what they're donating, Becausethat would be a write-off in
(25:04):
itself, wouldn't it?
I don't think people arelooking for if I do this, I'll
get a nice write-off for my tax.
I don't think that was thereason they did it.
But now that they have done itor continue to do it, what are
the advantages to that for theirtax base?
Speaker 2 (25:16):
Yeah, absolutely, items, goods as well as cash,
right, so you're donating money,but maybe also donating goods
to these types of services.
There's a value to that.
So keep track.
We can deduct that on yourtaxes.
Some items, we can just blanketit, like you give a bunch of
clothes or something like that.
You don't really know the value.
Well, we can help you value.
(25:37):
Well, let's see how much we cansay it was without raising any
flags, you know, to make it allwithin legal bounds.
But, yes, definitely keep trackof that.
Choose your favoriteorganization.
We won't necessarily have apreference, but one thing I do
suggest is, if you thought itwas going to go for the fires
here in LA, make sure you tag itthat way, because sometimes
(25:58):
these Red Cross organizationsI'm not going to fault them it's
happened in the past wherepeople thought they were giving
the money for their localcommunity and it ended up.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
In North Carolina.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
Or overseas.
You know, sometimes it goessomewhere else.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
I mean, it's not that they're using it for a good
purpose, but they're not usingthe purpose you intended.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
You intend.
So you can tag your donation.
So be sure, if that's importantto you, be sure to do that.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
It won't make any difference on the wow, so much
going on here, so much you know,and it's going to be such a
long process.
So, as time goes on and nowpeople start the rebuilding
process and things like that,what is it they should be, you
(26:40):
know, keeping track of and allthat type of thing.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
Yeah, so rebuilding, they've said in LA County,
they're trying to bypass a lotof the bureaucracy.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
Good luck with that.
Speaker 2 (26:49):
Right and yeah, I can say they initially seem to make
it seem going very quickly, butin reality it's.
Obviously we know reality isnot going to be as fast as what
they say, but they are trying toclear the way to make it faster
.
But here's what I would suggestIf you have a street or a
community, you might have morepower if you all come together
(27:13):
and come to some kind ofagreements.
Maybe you can share the debris,clear off costs together.
Or when you try to find acontractor believe me, there are
not 19,000 contractors to do19,000 different structures
You're going to have to pool.
So if you have a home owners,or if you have a street where
you're friendly with yourneighbors, that's the best way
(27:33):
to get in.
And even the homes that didn'tget destroyed, this is also an
opportunity for you to maybeenhance or upgrade.
Try to get some kind of disasterloan out of this from the
federal government which sayslook, everybody else is going to
build brand new, I'm going tobe in the oldest house on the
block.
There are some options for youas well, but you got to get
together with your neighbors.
I think there's more power bystreet or by community, by
(27:56):
neighborhood than individual.
We all kind of tend to go in adisaster to ourselves and
protect our families and ourpets and our needs.
But you got to step out and say, well, if I come together with
everyone in my area, I'll bestronger when I go out and ask
for the help I need, or to getmy streets cleaned up faster or
(28:16):
get the power put back on or thewater re hooked up, cause all
of that infrastructure has tohappen before you can even put
the first foundation down.
Speaker 1 (28:25):
Plus, where are they living right now?
Are they in a hotel?
Are they in a Airbnb?
Are they you know?
That's another thing too.
I mean, those are all coststhat you have to figure into it
also, right.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
Yes, please keep track of all those receipts.
That's all part of your loss.
Some insurances will cover that.
It's like your cost of livingin a hotel or getting a rental
car, but not all.
And if you don't have insurance, you're just paying out of
pocket.
Keep track of everything.
If you're buying coffee ordiapers for your kids, all that
expense and, by the way, thereare some immediate disaster
(28:59):
loans.
I think you can get $770immediately from FEMA without
much and this could be thequestion of what you're saying.
There's fraud.
People have already applied andgotten that.
The first cash money that'scoming out is very easy to get
but unfortunately it blocks whenyou show up with legitimate.
But I would definitely keeptrack of all your expenses when
(29:19):
you're living out of your homeelsewhere.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
So let's localize this a little more back to
Burbank.
Have you seen anybody, have youheard much about what's going
on in Burbank?
As far as any of this you know,or even our air quality went
bad and you know, and there wasashes that came into people's
residences.
If they need to clean thatstuff up and all that, or maybe
put a filtration system in theirhouse, I mean, is that stuff
(29:45):
that is to be worked on andcovered into this?
Is that stuff that is to beworked on and covered into this?
Speaker 2 (29:49):
Well, there are some offers for things like a
generator, a little backupgenerator.
There are a lot of services outthere that existed before the
fire, that I'm sure a lot ofpeople in Burbank didn't know
that existed.
You can have them come in andcheck your energy tightness of
your home, change your lightbulbs, change your shower heads,
for example.
There's things you can takeadvantage of just to make your
(30:10):
home a little bit more energyefficient or more just better.
And while you're at it, get thefire department out to have a
look.
Are my trees too close to myhouse?
I know they're busy, but thereare opportunities.
This is the time to get themtop of mind to say, is that tree
too close to the house, ordifferent kind of bushes, or
maybe you were thinking ofchanging some landscaping?
(30:31):
Now bring in that fire thoughtsor whatever.
Or protect your home.
And also earthquakes I don'twant to say don't forget about
earthquakes.
Oh yes, yeah.
So you don't want to put a lotof stone in building and then an
earthquake has then cracked.
It's the sort of advantagedisadvantage of a concrete home
can crack more easily in a lighttremor, whereas you know it'll
(30:51):
be protected in a fire.
So you want to talk to somepeople about that and I think
the community is starting to dotalks on this through the
Burbank Chamber of Commerce andthrough the Burbank City of
Burbank.
They're starting to offer someof those.
I believe you're having themayor on, so we have the mayor
on later this week.
Yeah, so they probably will havesome of these Q&A sessions
where people can go and say whatcan we do to improve our
(31:13):
community?
I was going to add one thing,though, that I think some
Burbank businesses probably havebeen impacted.
Maybe they have employees thatlive in these areas that have
been displaced, or maybe theyprovided services to businesses
that have been displaced right.
So Burbank community has beenimpacted.
It's like we're not in a bubblehere.
(31:34):
We don't only work for eachother, we work for the entire
city and area.
Even just the travelingcorridors to these areas have
blocked some of our businesses.
They're not coming here becausemaybe they had to pass through
that.
So I think a lot of businesses,if they take a loss, that's
(31:57):
also something to consider.
If you show your January,february, march first quarter
income is lower than normal, itcould be that.
Or if you don't have employeesthat can come to work and you
have to offset it with overtimewith other people, all of that
can be attributed to thisdisaster.
Sorry to be always the maker.
Speaker 1 (32:14):
No, no, that's what we need to know.
In fact, I would say maybe evenchild care, because when the
school shut down and everythingelse and you had to worry about
it.
That's another aspect.
There's so many aspects of thisfrom different things you don't
think about, but they do it.
The child care you had toprovide while your schools were
closed, that's a direct resultof these fires, right?
Speaker 2 (32:35):
That's exactly right.
So I'm not saying like get anotebook and start writing
everything down, but if you comein and talk to us or any other
tax accountant that you choose,they should be asking you those
questions, and even if you don'thave exacts, we can ballpark it
, we can estimate it.
I mean, the IRS understandsthat people don't have every
receipt of everything in thissituation, and so there's plenty
(32:56):
that we can try to help you do.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
Well, I think we're going to wrap this up, but I
think it was very important totalk about these things Once
again.
Probably not the first thing inyour mind was your taxes and
all these things and deductions,but it's something that you
need to start thinking of downthe line.
So hopefully this podcast isgoing to help people and give
them some direction.
You know, and like I recommendCBS Data Tax.
(33:22):
I mean, I think you guys arefantastic.
We've been with you for a whilenow, very happy with you, know
the service and thecommunication.
So you know, and whateveraccounting firm you get, you
know I think you need the mostimportant thing with accounting
you have to trust.
You're talking about yourfinancial records, your
financial worth and everythingelse, and you have to trust your
(33:44):
accountant and, let's face it,your accountant's probably going
to know things about you.
You have to trust them with theinformation too.
There's probably some thingsyou know in your life that you
don't want people really to know, but your accountant needs to
know.
Speaker 2 (33:56):
Oh, we do, we get that.
We have, uh, husbands asking usstuff the wives don't know about
, and we have children thatstart things that they don't
want their parents to know, andum, but all legal though all
legal, but just things that,like they want to make decisions
in their life and want to knowthe impact, and so that's what
we're here for to get thatindependent view, um, and and
(34:17):
you know objective, and so youcan make the informed decisions
okay leila, I can't tell you howmuch I appreciate you coming by
the studio and talking with us.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
I think this has been very valuable and I really do
hope it helps people and we'llput information in our
description and everything elsehow to get a hold of you guys.
If you're looking for anaccountant, I really recommend
these guys.
I think they're very important,I think they're very
trustworthy and you know whatThey've been around.
They're not going to be gonenext year.
(34:47):
They've been 25 years here inBurbank, so that says been
around.
They're not going to be gonenext year.
They've been 25 years here inBurbank, so that's a lot in
itself.
Anyway, once again, thank youfor coming by today.
Speaker 2 (34:55):
Thank you, appreciate it Always.
Love coming here.
Speaker 1 (34:59):
We love having you and the rest of you in Burbank.
Thank you very much forwatching or listening.
Make sure you hit the old likebutton, as they say, and think
about a channel membership.
That really helps usfinancially and we would
appreciate that we have ourmerch store now.
So all those little plugs welike to give at the end of a
video and if you're listening toyour car right now, thank you
(35:20):
very much.
We hope you are driving safely.
Keep two hands on the wheel andthat's it for another edition
at my Brewing Talks and we willtalk to you next time.
From deep in the Burbank Media District.
It's time for another editionof my Burbank Talks, presented
by the staff of my Burbank.
Now let's see what's on today'sagenda as we join our program.
Hello Burbank, greg Schuberthere with you once again, and
it's 2025 and we're back in thepodcast studio.
(00:20):
So kind of an interestingsubject today.
Probably not a really happysubject, but a very important
subject today because, with therecent wildfires we've had and
the problems, there are so manyside things that go on besides
just the rebuilding and allthose things.
One aspect is financial, whichmeans accountants and things
(00:45):
like that, and taxes, andwhether you live in the burn
area or not, in LA County wehave a lot of things now going
on.
So we brought our friends atCBIS Data Tax in who, once again
, in all disclosure, they arealso the MyBurbank accountants,
(01:08):
and you know why?
Because they're the best.
We want to bring in the owner,layla Cascini, and she's going
to talk about some things, aboutwhat's going on.
So, layla, it's good to see youonce again.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Yeah, thanks so much for having us back on the show
and we feel pretty proud.
We're your first podcast of2025.
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
Yeah, we got a little busy and we've been changing
some formats around, so I thinkit's going to work out pretty
well.
So let's go back once again andlet's just talk about CBIS,
data Tax.
Give us a little bit of thehistory.
You've been in Burbank for along time.
You just celebrated 20 years, Ithink 25.
25 years, yes, and so give us alittle background on everything
.
25 years, and so give us alittle background on everything.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Yeah, so CBIS Data Tax was actually my tax
accountant.
It was my father's taxaccountant back in the day we're
talking well for him probablystarting in the 80s to the 90s.
It's existed in Los Angelessince 1981, moved to the Burbank
location where we are right nowon Hollywood Way in 1998.
Or Hollywood Way in Alameda,that's correct, that's right 201
(02:06):
North Hollywood Way.
So what happened was this lastsummer we realized we've been in
the same spot for at least 25years, so we decided to mark the
occasion.
So 25 years of continuousoperation.
I am a new owner, but I used tobe a client, so I feel like I
already knew them.
I went and got my master's infinance and accounting and so it
just worked out to be able totake it over and continue the
(02:28):
legacy.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
So that's great, and you know the reason we came to
you.
We've heard great things andwe're very happy with what
everything going on for us.
Thank you very much.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Yes, no problem.
We're happy to have you, noproblem.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
We're happy to have you.
Well, let's kind of get intosome of the general stuff here.
So why having an accountant?
Why is that different thanhaving an online service?
Your TurboTax and all thosethings you see and I'm sure on
Super Bowl Sunday we're going tosee a thousand ads for all the
electronic things and we'll doyour taxes for free and all this
(03:04):
stuff Explain the difference topeople, why they actually
really need a physicalaccounting person and a place
and somebody who can actuallydeal with you personally.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Yeah, well, that's an excellent question and, yes,
you could try to do it yourself.
Right, and the IRS even offerssome services for free for
certain individuals that can'tafford, for example, someone.
The difference is that if yousit down and you're not a
finance person, you're not a taxbookkeeping, you don't
understand all these nuances.
And each year, by the way thetax laws change, you're going to
(03:35):
be dealing with a lot of prettycomplicated stuff that a
simplified I don't want to say.
Our competitors, like TurboTaxand so forth.
They might be qualified inthere, but they're not going to
be asking the same questionsyear after year because they're
not following you.
You're just walking into apop-up tax office and saying
here are my papers, here are myreceipts, here's my 1099s, w-2s,
(03:56):
and they're going to do yourtaxes for you, but they're not
going to know things like nextyear you want to buy a house, or
last year you had a kid thatwas in school, that's not in
school this year, and maybe youforgot to take a deduction last
year.
You're not going to know thoselegacy things.
And that's why I think find anaccountant that you love, that
you can talk to, and that'ssomebody that's going to give
(04:16):
you independent advice year overyear, help you strategize and
even prepare you in retirementyears as well, because they'll
know where you started from.
So that's my push for you don'thave to come to us.
We'd love to have you, and weare open for taking new clients.
By the way, many firms are not,and that's mainly because
they're on their way to retire.
Retiring accountants are nottaking on new work.
(04:38):
They're trying to get rid ofclients, and so it's rare to
find an established firm, anoffice that has a physical
location, that is taking newbusiness.
So just keep that in mind aswell when you go around looking
for an accountant.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Oh, interesting.
Well, I know Frank does ourwork for us and I know Frank's
going to be there.
He's going to be there 12months of the year.
You go to a you know one ofthese places.
You go to a physical locationand they probably have hired two
thirds of their staff, and justfor tax season.
And now you know it's twomonths later.
(05:14):
You know I've got to.
What do you mean?
It doesn't work here anymore.
You don't know who I am, youdon't know what's going on.
So there's a lot of advantageto having a accounting firm and
and cost-wise it's prettysimilar, isn't?
Speaker 2 (05:27):
it.
I would say that we're talkingokay, I'll give some quotes for
us we are very competitive inour pricing.
But let's say it's $300, on thehigh, you know, for an
individual coming in with basictaxes, and then we're talking
$800 for an uncomplicatedbusiness.
This is not a lot of money Now,of course it sounds like a lot,
but if you're getting a refundand it's coming out of that, you
(05:47):
might say if I do it myself orif I go to them, maybe they
charge 250 or 200.
It's possible.
Then what happens is you'll getthat IRS letter that questions
something, you don't even knowwhat, and three months later or
six months later, you don't haveanyone to go back to and say
(06:10):
what did you do on my tax form,that I got this letter so I can
respond to them, and so nowyou're they're probably going to
charge you again, and so westand behind our work so that if
we do something and you get aletter later on in the year,
we're there to help you answerit.
That's included in our services.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
Well, not only that, but you can probably find more
things that give you moredeductions and get you more
money back in the long run too,because this is your one and
only business.
You're not just notmoonlighting.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Yes, I do find that the most people say the reason
they don't have an accountantand they just use these services
.
Usually they say I just haveone job.
I just you know I'm one.
I'm an Uber driver, that's allI do.
And all I have to do is askthem a couple of questions Like
do you have a cell phone?
Do they deduct that?
Do you take internet?
Do you ever work from home?
Have they ever considered that?
(06:51):
And they look at me like well,I didn't even know I could do
that.
And I said that's the point.
Like, whereas a professionalaccountant that's that's savvy
on the laws every year uh, canhelp you with those type of
things, even if you just have aone job, one income type
situation.
So there's plenty we can offerand help you with.
(07:11):
It says, one day you're going todo a side business and maybe
your YouTube channel suddenlybecomes a big gain and now we
wish that's right, and so we'rethere to help you plan for that,
so that you can profit fromthat new venture without paying
all the taxes.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
Well, as we kicked off the show, we said it's 2025.
And guess what?
It's a new year, in the taxyear too.
So what are some new rules andregulations for 2025 that maybe
people don't know about or thatyou're looking to, you know key
in on or that type of thing thatyou know it can really help
people, and without giving toomany trade secrets, because we
(07:46):
still want to come to you andstuff but what are some of the
rules and differences now in2025 compared to last year?
Speaker 2 (07:53):
Well in 2025, generally for all taxpayers.
They've changed some of thededuction amounts and, of course
, the income levels and tax foreach income level has changed.
It changes every year, so it'salways good to know about that.
They've changed some rules onthe retirement distributions,
too that we need to keep in mind.
It's kicked in probably in thelast month of December, so
(08:13):
hopefully you guys knew about it, took advantage of it, but
those are also shifting, sothere's some areas that are
going to change.
Some will benefit you and somedeductions that you used to have
will disappear, so it's good toknow.
Again.
Find an accountant that canoffset.
Look at last year's and say,look, I had this gain last year
but the rules changed, so Idon't get that this year.
But maybe there's somethingelse you do qualify for.
(08:42):
Most importantly for LA Countyis this fire that's happening.
I know you said in thebeginning of the show we would
have a not so happy topic.
The disaster that's happened inthe Palisades and Eaton and
other areas of LA County hascreated a window of opportunity
on the financial losses.
I know that sounds a verystrange way to say.
There is one upside to thisdisaster and I can speak
(09:02):
personally I have a familymember who lost their home, so
it's hitting very close.
However, we know that when theIRS and California said we are
going to declare LA County adisaster area, that triggers
some very interesting financialopportunity for everyone in LA
(09:23):
County, even if you didn'tsuffer a loss.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
So people here in Burbank can have now.
So there's some opportunitiesfor them tax-wise, even though
there's no fire that happened inBurbank.
But people in Burbank canbenefit from some of the
declarations and stuff,especially in LA County.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Exactly.
I'll say first off the bat CBISData Tax is offering free tax
filings for fire victims.
So if you lost your home orlost a business, you can come in
and talk to us.
We'll do your taxes for free.
That is an offer we're offeringjust to support the community
at large.
So if you know anyone out therethat was impacted maybe not
yourself, but someone elseplease send them to us If
(10:00):
they're interested.
We will do that for them.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
Let me ask you this we're kind of running the topic
here, we're kind of bouncingaround a little bit.
So you've lost your house,you've lost your business and,
of course, your business, allyour records, all your tax
records, all your receipts, allyour computer, everything was.
How do you go about, you know,recreating and helping people
(10:24):
through that, because you knowthey're probably just hitting
their head against the wallright now.
They don't know where to turnor what to do.
So how do you?
How do you start and how do youstart recreating all that?
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Well and that also OK for somebody who actually did
lose their receipts in business.
First of all, the IRS will getyou your previous tax
transcripts so you can getprevious records that were
already filed with the IRS.
And you can go on the irsgovwebsite and find that there's a
phone number when you.
It's actually a phone numbercalled the IRS Disaster Hotline
(10:55):
and I can give it out here it's1-866-562-5227.
So the IRS Disaster Hotline cananswer a lot of those questions
.
When you say I lost this, Ilost that.
You're a business, you got tohand out W-2s to your employees,
or 1099s, all of that.
They can help assist you.
And, by the way, since we're onit, everyone in LA County can
(11:17):
now postpone all their filingsfor individual and business
taxes until October 15th.
That's like just you don't haveto have lost your home or
business to benefit from that.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
Let's say it was a pandemic that one year we got to
a six month extension.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Yes, the pandemic did it.
There was a flood, there was aflood zone also in LA County and
San Diego that they alsooffered an extension.
But it's not just the filing.
This is what's so interesting.
This is why I said there's afinancial gain here, or a
potential financial offset,we'll call it.
(11:52):
If you owe taxes, you also don'thave to pay that until October
15th.
So you could even go to youraccountant and file or do your.
However, you file and wait topay until October 15th.
If you're in LA County, youprofit from that or you benefit
from that.
I mean, I should say, if you,even if you haven't lost
anything in the fires.
What that could mean is, if youowe money, if every year you're
writing a check on April 15th,you now don't have to write that
(12:12):
check till October 15th andthere will not be any penalties
or interest charged.
I mean that's a huge advantageif you could do something else
with that money in the meantimeand just save up again until
October.
If you pay estimated taxesevery quarter, those are also
delayed until October 15th.
So if you owed something inDecember and you still haven't
(12:33):
paid it, you get that graceperiod no penalty, no interest
all the way to October 15th.
There's a number of other thingsthat have been delayed, but it
is quite interesting for peoplethat maybe they didn't quite
have the money saved up or theyhave something else they wanted
to spend that money on.
Well, now you can't, so you canwait.
One more interesting thing islet's say you don't live in LA
(12:55):
County, you're outside thecounty, but your tax firm, like
CVIS Data Tax, is within thatzone.
You can also qualify for thatdelayed filing and the delayed
payments.
That is extremely interesting.
It means if you live in Vermontbut you use us for your tax
services, you can call the IRSand say my tax preparer is in
(13:16):
the impacted zone and you willalso qualify for that.
So it's a very interestingthing that it's also nationwide
potential, but you got to findyour tax firm inside the LA
County area.
So that's the pitch for CBISdata tax.
We can help you with that.
We can advise you how to getthat benefit.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
Hear that, vermont, we found your tax accounts right
here.
Now you're going to be dealingwith a lot of insurance money, a
lot of FEMA money andeverything else going on.
I was told.
I've been watching reports likeeverybody else, and they were
saying that if you start aGoFundMe page and FEMA finds out
(13:56):
about it, they will deduct theamount you get on GoFundMe from
the FEMA payment they give youand things like that.
So accounting-wise, is theGoFundMe page a good idea?
I mean, is that more of ataxable thing or is FEMA not
taxable?
Or am I asking questions thatare probably a little more
(14:18):
complicated right now?
Speaker 2 (14:19):
No, they're all very good questions.
I almost find it unconscionablethat if somebody has money,
however they get it, suddenlythe government, federal funds,
are not paying out, and so forth.
But this is another.
This is my opinion on thatstance.
But basically it's true.
What they're saying is if youhad an insurance policy that,
say, covers your property for$50,000 and you collected that
(14:39):
$50,000, then FEMA is not goingto pay you.
You know anything more, unlessyou come and say, but I lost a
hundred thousand dollars worthof stuff, then they might
consider that fifty thousand.
But if they find out you had aGoFundMe that got you that extra
fifty thousand another, well,we're done here.
You've been made whole, andit's almost like penalizing
people's generosity to helppeople in these situations.
(15:01):
So the government just sayswe're not going to pay it.
But I have an opinion on that.
But that is the.
That is the truth.
The insurance and FEMA payoutswill sort of cancel each other
out.
So you can't double dip is whatthey're trying to say.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Well, that's it.
Yeah, I mean, I understand theywant to make you whole again,
but you know your life's beenturned upside down.
It's not like you're trying tomake a.
You know, let's have a fire andhave a profit off of that.
You know, I don't think peopleare thinking trying to make a
profit.
I think they're just trying toget their lives back on track.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
You know, and face, it's a lot of things that you
know kind of make sense, likethat well, on that topic I I can
offer something on the tax sidethat might help some of these
fire loss victims.
And it's good advice forsomebody who hasn't lost
anything, but to prepare just incase.
So let's say you hadgrandmother's ring okay, and
(16:00):
it's worth 50 grand.
Let's say it's.
Or you know even more Well, youdidn't get.
When you inherited that ring youprobably didn't get it
appraised, you just got it fromgrandma on her deathbed.
I mean, it's now part of yourcollection and you lost it in
the fire.
Well, the insurance companymost likely is not going to pay
you out on that ring.
They might do a blanket policy.
Well, everything in the houseis worth $100,000.
(16:20):
That's all you get.
But when you come back and say,but I had this one ring and it
was worth that to me, they'regoing to say too bad, because
you had a blanket policy.
You didn't tell me you had thisadditional item.
So I can say for you right nowthe insurance will not pay you
that, however, you come into ouroffices we can explain a way
for you to get the tax loss ofthat inherited item through your
(16:43):
taxes.
Now you'll say to me but Idon't earn $50,000 a year to
take a tax loss of $50,000.
You've got 20 years to takethat loss.
You can keep putting it.
You can take $5,000 every yearfor 10 years, if you like, until
we get it.
We can find a way for you totake the loss of that ring.
You'll get the money.
It just might take some time.
So it's a very interestingruling the way they treat
(17:05):
inherited items that are lost ina disaster.
So anybody out there thatthinks my insurance isn't going
to pay for all that great stuffI had all my life took me 50
years to create this life.
Gone in a day, talk to youraccountant or come in and talk
to us, because we might be ableto find a way for you to recover
it at least the financial valueof it over the next few years.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
You recommend that people videotape, maybe inside
their house, things like that.
Yeah, not videotape.
Welcome to the 80s.
A cell phone now is a cameraand they can do video on every
cell phone.
So should they go around roomto room and just video their
house, and maybe they haveexpensive objects to go ahead,
(17:51):
and is that good enough fordocumentation?
Just a video compared to oh,here's a receipt, here's this,
here's that.
I mean, is that a good systemto have?
Speaker 2 (18:02):
Yeah, well, yes, because, uh, it's, it's
obviously a receipt is golden,because if you bought something,
you have a receipt for it, ifit survived the fire or if you
have a credit card statementsomewhere, that's going to be
the value.
But these items that you don'tlike paintings or a vase, or you
know your furnishings maybe youjust had some beautiful, like
jewelry as I said, those thingsare not going to have receipts
(18:23):
necessarily if they were giftsor given to you or inherited or
passed down over generations.
I'm sure most of Altadena is agenerational type community.
Those people, if they're 70years old and they lost
everything, they're not going tohave receipts.
Right, they were hoping to handthat down to their
grandchildren and so videotapingor if you have any photographs
of it, that's obviously veryhelpful.
(18:44):
If you, if you don't have themfrom the fire, take some now.
If you've, if you still haveyour hub, take photos.
Put them somewhere wherethey're safe.
Obviously, if it's on a phoneor a hard drive and that burns,
that's or it gets destroyed.
So put them somewhere safe anddon't put them in a safety
deposit box, because we havelearned that the safety deposit
(19:05):
boxes in the banks burned up.
They're only capable yeah, theBank of America.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
I saw Bank of America open flames, yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
Yeah, the only their.
Their vaults are meant towithstand fire at 450 degrees
Fahrenheit, and these fires wereat 1780 plus Fahrenheit.
So anything inside those boxesit turned to ash if it was paper
and melted into a pool ofpuddle of metal if it was silver
or gold.
So even when they can get tothose boxes, you're not going to
(19:37):
have any.
You know it's just gonna be amess.
And you're not insured, by theway, with a safety deposit box.
So that's another thing to know.
You have to carry your owninsurance.
The bank doesn't even know whatyou put in there.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
That's the advantage of the safety deposit box.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
No one knows what's in those boxes, so I wouldn't
put them in there because weknow they're not fire safe.
So put them in differentlocations, maybe at different
friends, families, houses, putit on a hard drive somewhere, or
you can put them in the cloud.
You know, if you trust thecloud, put them up there.
Those photographs, by the way,they're not necessarily a
guarantee of appraisal value andthat's why we come in again,
(20:10):
because I can.
In our firm at CBIS Data Techswe can find jewelry appraisers
that are certified in the areain LA that can look at a
photograph and say you know thatring, if it was this carat and
this would have this value, andthey will document that.
They'll say we didn't feel it,but we believe it would have
(20:32):
been worth this much and that'sgood enough for the IRS.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
Okay, what if somebody comes to you and you
know, and let's face it, theseare very distraught people.
Right now, even weeks later,there's probably people just are
sitting at a corner somewheresaying I just don't know what to
do.
If somebody comes into you andthey really haven't received
help, they haven't filled out,are you able to steer them in
(20:58):
the right directions?
Okay, here's where you need togo with FEMA, here's where you
need to go with FEMA, here'swhere you need to go with an
insurance.
Do you help steer people to getthem in the right direction?
Because right now they'reprobably just lost and there's
no experiences whatsoever forthem.
So what can you do if somebodyis just really starting off?
Can you help guide them throughthe process, besides being, of
(21:20):
course, their accountant?
Speaker 2 (21:21):
Yes, well, obviously we are of expertise on the tax
side, but because we also have acommunity that are impacted we
and myself directly, even thefamily we can help you because
we have lawyer contacts that canhelp guide you on the legal
side.
They can advise you on how toapproach your insurance company,
(21:41):
the FEMA and these disasterrelief.
Obviously we have connectionsinto the IRS disaster hotlines
and so forth that we haveenrolled agents that can go and
get in there.
We can definitely advise you.
We're not a one-shot all forthis disaster, sadly, but it's a
great start because first wecan at least talk through your
(22:03):
financial options.
How do we make you whole again?
You're retired, you're notworking anymore, for example?
How do we at least get that'sthe important thing you know is
to get whole again.
Right, we can even put some ofthese financial losses into your
estate, so that at least yournext generation has some benefit
, even if you're not workinganymore now.
So there's all these things wecan talk through that might give
(22:26):
a small peace of mind on top ofthis horrific tragedy that's
happened.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
What about scams out there?
And I think there's I can'tthere's people who already had
their.
You know, they went to get aFEMA help and they said oh no,
somebody's already applied foryour house and you got to prove
who you are.
And they said well, why didthey have to prove who they were
first?
You know, I mean.
So I mean people take advantageof everything they take.
(22:52):
It's sad when you see how cruelpeople can be compared to how
generous people can be.
Also.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
Yeah, the scams and the theft has already begun.
I mean, I'll even speak in mypersonal family.
They've gone out to the ashes.
They found a safe but it lookedthat it had already been busted
open.
So they're not sure if anythingwas ever in it.
It could have.
Maybe didn't survive the fire,they're not sure, but it did
look like it had been opened andnothing was inside.
(23:20):
So it's already started.
We know about these looters,we've heard about it.
The police are trying.
Now you get escorted to yourproperties.
But the scams online are big.
The offers to buy properties.
In my family they've also beenoffered to buy their land, and
at very, very low value.
So that's happening.
It has been deemed illegal inCalifornia to make offers below
(23:46):
market value.
At this moment, like this isone of these disaster moments
where they enact these policies.
But who's to stop someone whoreally desperately needs money
to just accept an offer likethat?
So there is some risk out there.
People are weak and you reallyhave to pay attention.
Risk out there.
People are weak and you reallyhave to pay attention.
Definitely, research any offeryou get, talk to other people,
(24:06):
see, did they get the same offer?
Like, did you get that email,did you get that phone call?
And just don't keep it toyourself.
And even if you fell victim tosomething like you did actually
hand money over to someone andthen nothing happened please
don't hide that, don't beashamed of it, because if you
don't voice it, then we can'tfind out and stop it and help
(24:27):
the community and theenforcement agencies to track
that down.
So and there is some protection.
By the way, you can even bringthat back to your taxes as a
loss.
So if you did get scammed,there is a way to put that on
your taxes.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
You didn't know that.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
Okay, so that's the worst side of people.
Let's talk about the good sideof people.
The Red Cross, all theseorganizations have made millions
and millions of dollars.
You know that's coming frompeople who are donating money,
donating items, donating allthese things.
So when they're donating,should they be keeping track of
what they're donating, Becausethat would be a write-off in
(25:04):
itself, wouldn't it?
I don't think people arelooking for if I do this, I'll
get a nice write-off for my tax.
I don't think that was thereason they did it.
But now that they have done itor continue to do it, what are
the advantages to that for theirtax base?
Speaker 2 (25:16):
Yeah, absolutely, items, goods as well as cash,
right, so you're donating money,but maybe also donating goods
to these types of services.
There's a value to that.
So keep track.
We can deduct that on yourtaxes.
Some items, we can just blanketit, like you give a bunch of
clothes or something like that.
You don't really know the value.
Well, we can help you value.
(25:37):
Well, let's see how much we cansay it was without raising any
flags, you know, to make it allwithin legal bounds.
But, yes, definitely keep trackof that.
Choose your favoriteorganization.
We won't necessarily have apreference, but one thing I do
suggest is, if you thought itwas going to go for the fires
here in LA, make sure you tag itthat way, because sometimes
(25:58):
these Red Cross organizationsI'm not going to fault them it's
happened in the past wherepeople thought they were giving
the money for their localcommunity and it ended up.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
In North Carolina.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
Or overseas.
You know, sometimes it goessomewhere else.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
I mean, it's not that they're using it for a good
purpose, but they're not usingthe purpose you intended.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
You intend.
So you can tag your donation.
So be sure, if that's importantto you, be sure to do that.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
It won't make any difference on the wow, so much
going on here, so much you know,and it's going to be such a
long process.
So, as time goes on and nowpeople start the rebuilding
process and things like that,what is it they should be, you
(26:40):
know, keeping track of and allthat type of thing.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
Yeah, so rebuilding, they've said in LA County,
they're trying to bypass a lotof the bureaucracy.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
Good luck with that.
Speaker 2 (26:49):
Right and yeah, I can say they initially seem to make
it seem going very quickly, butin reality it's.
Obviously we know reality isnot going to be as fast as what
they say, but they are trying toclear the way to make it faster
.
But here's what I would suggestIf you have a street or a
community, you might have morepower if you all come together
(27:13):
and come to some kind ofagreements.
Maybe you can share the debris,clear off costs together.
Or when you try to find acontractor believe me, there are
not 19,000 contractors to do19,000 different structures
You're going to have to pool.
So if you have a home owners,or if you have a street where
you're friendly with yourneighbors, that's the best way
(27:33):
to get in.
And even the homes that didn'tget destroyed, this is also an
opportunity for you to maybeenhance or upgrade.
Try to get some kind of disasterloan out of this from the
federal government which sayslook, everybody else is going to
build brand new, I'm going tobe in the oldest house on the
block.
There are some options for youas well, but you got to get
together with your neighbors.
I think there's more power bystreet or by community, by
(27:56):
neighborhood than individual.
We all kind of tend to go in adisaster to ourselves and
protect our families and ourpets and our needs.
But you got to step out and say, well, if I come together with
everyone in my area, I'll bestronger when I go out and ask
for the help I need, or to getmy streets cleaned up faster or
(28:16):
get the power put back on or thewater re hooked up, cause all
of that infrastructure has tohappen before you can even put
the first foundation down.
Speaker 1 (28:25):
Plus, where are they living right now?
Are they in a hotel?
Are they in a Airbnb?
Are they you know?
That's another thing too.
I mean, those are all coststhat you have to figure into it
also, right.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
Yes, please keep track of all those receipts.
That's all part of your loss.
Some insurances will cover that.
It's like your cost of livingin a hotel or getting a rental
car, but not all.
And if you don't have insurance, you're just paying out of
pocket.
Keep track of everything.
If you're buying coffee ordiapers for your kids, all that
expense and, by the way, thereare some immediate disaster
(28:59):
loans.
I think you can get $770immediately from FEMA without
much and this could be thequestion of what you're saying.
There's fraud.
People have already applied andgotten that.
The first cash money that'scoming out is very easy to get
but unfortunately it blocks whenyou show up with legitimate.
But I would definitely keeptrack of all your expenses when
(29:19):
you're living out of your homeelsewhere.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
So let's localize this a little more back to
Burbank.
Have you seen anybody, have youheard much about what's going
on in Burbank?
As far as any of this you know,or even our air quality went
bad and you know, and there wasashes that came into people's
residences.
If they need to clean thatstuff up and all that, or maybe
put a filtration system in theirhouse, I mean, is that stuff
(29:45):
that is to be worked on andcovered into this?
Is that stuff that is to beworked on and covered into this?
Speaker 2 (29:49):
Well, there are some offers for things like a
generator, a little backupgenerator.
There are a lot of services outthere that existed before the
fire, that I'm sure a lot ofpeople in Burbank didn't know
that existed.
You can have them come in andcheck your energy tightness of
your home, change your lightbulbs, change your shower heads,
for example.
There's things you can takeadvantage of just to make your
(30:10):
home a little bit more energyefficient or more just better.
And while you're at it, get thefire department out to have a
look.
Are my trees too close to myhouse?
I know they're busy, but thereare opportunities.
This is the time to get themtop of mind to say, is that tree
too close to the house, ordifferent kind of bushes, or
maybe you were thinking ofchanging some landscaping?
(30:31):
Now bring in that fire thoughtsor whatever.
Or protect your home.
And also earthquakes I don'twant to say don't forget about
earthquakes.
Oh yes, yeah.
So you don't want to put a lotof stone in building and then an
earthquake has then cracked.
It's the sort of advantagedisadvantage of a concrete home
can crack more easily in a lighttremor, whereas you know it'll
(30:51):
be protected in a fire.
So you want to talk to somepeople about that and I think
the community is starting to dotalks on this through the
Burbank Chamber of Commerce andthrough the Burbank City of
Burbank.
They're starting to offer someof those.
I believe you're having themayor on, so we have the mayor
on later this week.
Yeah, so they probably will havesome of these Q&A sessions
where people can go and say whatcan we do to improve our
(31:13):
community?
I was going to add one thing,though, that I think some
Burbank businesses probably havebeen impacted.
Maybe they have employees thatlive in these areas that have
been displaced, or maybe theyprovided services to businesses
that have been displaced right.
So Burbank community has beenimpacted.
It's like we're not in a bubblehere.
(31:34):
We don't only work for eachother, we work for the entire
city and area.
Even just the travelingcorridors to these areas have
blocked some of our businesses.
They're not coming here becausemaybe they had to pass through
that.
So I think a lot of businesses,if they take a loss, that's
(31:57):
also something to consider.
If you show your January,february, march first quarter
income is lower than normal, itcould be that.
Or if you don't have employeesthat can come to work and you
have to offset it with overtimewith other people, all of that
can be attributed to thisdisaster.
Sorry to be always the maker.
Speaker 1 (32:14):
No, no, that's what we need to know.
In fact, I would say maybe evenchild care, because when the
school shut down and everythingelse and you had to worry about
it.
That's another aspect.
There's so many aspects of thisfrom different things you don't
think about, but they do it.
The child care you had toprovide while your schools were
closed, that's a direct resultof these fires, right?
Speaker 2 (32:35):
That's exactly right.
So I'm not saying like get anotebook and start writing
everything down, but if you comein and talk to us or any other
tax accountant that you choose,they should be asking you those
questions, and even if you don'thave exacts, we can ballpark it
, we can estimate it.
I mean, the IRS understandsthat people don't have every
receipt of everything in thissituation, and so there's plenty
(32:56):
that we can try to help you do.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
Well, I think we're going to wrap this up, but I
think it was very important totalk about these things Once
again.
Probably not the first thing inyour mind was your taxes and
all these things and deductions,but it's something that you
need to start thinking of downthe line.
So hopefully this podcast isgoing to help people and give
them some direction.
You know, and like I recommendCBS Data Tax.
(33:22):
I mean, I think you guys arefantastic.
We've been with you for a whilenow, very happy with you, know
the service and thecommunication.
So you know, and whateveraccounting firm you get, you
know I think you need the mostimportant thing with accounting
you have to trust.
You're talking about yourfinancial records, your
financial worth and everythingelse, and you have to trust your
(33:44):
accountant and, let's face it,your accountant's probably going
to know things about you.
You have to trust them with theinformation too.
There's probably some thingsyou know in your life that you
don't want people really to know, but your accountant needs to
know.
Speaker 2 (33:56):
Oh, we do, we get that.
We have, uh, husbands asking usstuff the wives don't know about
, and we have children thatstart things that they don't
want their parents to know, andum, but all legal though all
legal, but just things that,like they want to make decisions
in their life and want to knowthe impact, and so that's what
we're here for to get thatindependent view, um, and and
(34:17):
you know objective, and so youcan make the informed decisions
okay leila, I can't tell you howmuch I appreciate you coming by
the studio and talking with us.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
I think this has been very valuable and I really do
hope it helps people and we'llput information in our
description and everything elsehow to get a hold of you guys.
If you're looking for anaccountant, I really recommend
these guys.
I think they're very important,I think they're very
trustworthy and you know whatThey've been around.
They're not going to be gonenext year.
(34:47):
They've been 25 years here inBurbank, so that says been
around.
They're not going to be gonenext year.
They've been 25 years here inBurbank, so that's a lot in
itself.
Anyway, once again, thank youfor coming by today.
Speaker 2 (34:55):
Thank you, appreciate it Always.
Love coming here.
Speaker 1 (34:59):
We love having you and the rest of you in Burbank.
Thank you very much forwatching or listening.
Make sure you hit the old likebutton, as they say, and think
about a channel membership.
That really helps usfinancially and we would
appreciate that we have ourmerch store now.
So all those little plugs welike to give at the end of a
video and if you're listening toyour car right now, thank you
(35:20):
very much.
We hope you are driving safely.
Keep two hands on the wheel andthat's it for another edition
at my Brewing Talks and we willtalk to you next time.
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